Back to School 2016

The summer went too fast I still can't believe school has started.  The older three started today and Elijah will start on Tuesday.   This would have been my year to be on my own but Josiah and I decided it would be best if  he did home school this year.  He is taking orchestra at the school during the last class of the day.  I am excited to work one on one with him.  

This was at the back to school open house last night.  They look thrilled.  

Sadie 8th, Josiah 6th, Jarom 4th

I didn't feel like cooking so I took the kids to dinner.   Now I remember why we don't go out to eat very much.  We would be broke.  Josiah ordered this plate and had no problem finishing it off.  Our kids are eating more the older they get.  I might need to get a job just so we can feed them at home.  

We did get a free piece of pie.

Picture

Does this person look familiar to you?

It is Sadie drawn by Elijah.  I thought it was so cute.  

The house behind us

We have been living in a great spot.  The house behind us had been vacant since we moved and we were told its been empty for longer than that.  However, in June it was auctioned off.   We thought about bidding on it but found that the starting price was going to be way more cash than what we had or wanted to borrow.  It hasn't been fun having people work back there.  They are flipping it and hope to have it back on the market next month.  We are hoping for a good neighbor because so far we aren't impressed with the flippers.  

Not quite as fun to see that mess out there as it was to look at the trees.  

Soccer

Soccer started at the beginning of the month for Jarom.  He loves playing.  You know its the start of soccer season when the grass is brown.  The grass will be green as ever when the season ends. 

Mowing jobs to never forget

This will be a day to put in memory.  Josiah, Jarom and I went to mow a couple of lawns today.  When we finished the first lawn I backed out then pulled forward and it was obvious that we had a flat tire.  A very flat tire.  I was able to pull the truck off the road and then I got started on the fix.  I think I could have gotten except for the spare tire was not going to budge.   For the record I didn't even get mad by this situation.  You can ask my boys.  The irony of this situation was funny.  Nathan had left town yesterday for a work assignment.  He and I helped our friend whose husband was out of town for work a couple of weeks previous.  So I had to have her husband come help me but he couldn't till the next morning.  So they boys and I trucked the mowers up several hills to mow the last lawn.  It was a very hot day.  Once that lawn was mowed we took the journey with the mowers back home.  It was a nice walk home but I prefer having the truck to haul them.  

It may not seem like a big deal but I couldn't get anything to budge.  Honestly I was happy to have our friend do it so that it was done correctly.  

The happy mowers on the way home.  

Our mantel decor

I noticed this when I woke up this morning.  

A work visit

Every 5 years we can tour where Nathan works.  We ride out bikes down the scary streets and hope everyone is okay.  We don't have a biker friendly city especially for 6 bikes.  Nathan rides his bike every day to work and knew all of the back roads.  Riding prevented us from spending a long time in line to get into the gate.  It was a fun visit.  Elijah really liked his "hard" hat and safety glasses.  You couldn't have cameras on the tour so Elijah is modeling his new stuff. 

A first

Sadie's friend has never had a s'more till now.  Her life is now complete.  

117 quarts

Reality really hit this morning when I went to our garage and saw that our friends did in fact pick up our fruit order on Saturday morning.  Sigh!  It was all ripe and ready.  We tackled the pears first.  The kids were great helpers.  We love pears but man they a pain peel.  There was quite the mess to clean up afterwards but I appreciated all of the help.  We got 47 quarts of pears (5 boxes) and 70 quarts of peaches (5 boxes) done yesterday.  I love when the canning is done but its not done yet.  

A get away plus family

We went back to Oregon last week.  Nathan and I were able to escape for a couple of days without kids and we really enjoyed our time together.  The thought of traveling wasn't appealing so we just stayed in my hometown.  It was perfect.  We roamed around town looking through Antique stores and a couple of museums.  It seems like life gets so busy it was just nice to be able to visit without any interruptions.  

This is a picture of Nathan's old stomping grounds we found in a museum.  

This must have been an olden day dollar store advertisement.

We stopped by the cemetery.  It isn't even near the same as visiting with my mom in person but there is a neat spirit there near those graves.  I enjoyed the few minutes we took to be here.  There isn't a day that goes by I don't think of my mom.  

We drove on the old highway up the cabbage hill and actually stopped at the view point that we never see because once we are on the road we don't stop (or try not to).   I love those fields out there.  

The kids had a great time with their cousins.  Chris had them try this cool experiment with skittles.  

Then they had to suck up as many skittles as possible.  Nysa won.

These two decided to have their hair braided together.  It didn't stay together for very long since Sadie is taller than Taegan.

Then these three thought they would try it.  They stayed together for a long time.  

Picking up a skittle together. 

Jumping on the trampoline together

Bouncing on the horse together. 

I think we can fit a few more kids in this bathroom to brush teeth. 

These two were like the energizer bunny and kept going and going and going.  They would crash hard at night though.  

Josiah's fancy spider made out of magnet pieces.  The funny part of this is that he is terrified of spiders.  

It was a very fun weekend. 

Bike ride with Young Women

This evening we took a bike ride for the activity for young women.   It was so fun and we need to do it again sometime.  It is tough because we don't have a biker friendly city.  We do have enough hills to give us some good exercise. 

Mt. Townsend, Silver Lake

This weekend we took another back packing adventure. The first day was quite an adventure.  We started at Dirty Face Ridge.  It was a dirty trail in the fact that it was not easy.  It was a long 7 miles of hiking (4 miles of it was climbing not hiking) but so worth the views.  There was some weeping and wailing but we did it.   The kids whined a bit too.  

You can see Buckhorn peak in the background just above my head that we have been to a couple of times.  

Views

views

I love being on top of mountains.  It is so satisfying and awe inspiring to see the beautiful world we live in. I need these hikes.  

Tired out kids

This was Jarom's favorite place to take in the view.  

I know it is sad but we were only less than a mile from our destination but we had had it after 7 hours of hiking.  The thought of going up more elevation didn't sound appealing to my sore feet.  We found a nice spot next to a stream to camp for the night.  Our tents were cramped but we enjoyed our time there.  

Roasting marshmallows after our yummy rice and salmon dinner.  Nathan read The adventures of Tom Sawyer then we all crashed hard. 

This is the boys tent.  There is nothing like waking up in the morning with a little tree in your face as you get out of the tent.  Ha ha!  I decided boys just don't care where the door of their tent faces.  

This little guy greeted us at the lake when we got there.  

The first order of business was to swim in the lake.  We were glad we did because shortly after we were done, fog engulfed the lake and camp areas.  The temperature dropped too.

It took Jarom the longest to get wet.  The water was cold but you have to jump into a cold lake after hiking.  It didn't take me long cause Josiah shoved me in.  It feels so good once you do it.  

Our fog for the afternoon and evening.

We played card games, explored, read, and attempted to fish.

Nathan reading as we all lounge around.  

fishing attempt

The kids are sitting on a boulder on other side of the lake. They loved to climb on it and make me nervous.  

Jarom carving his initials in the tree next to the boulder.  Nathan loves to quote this, "fools names and fools faces are often found in public places." 

Do you see Josiah?

Nathan making dinner.  We wanted a lid so he thought he would try his hat.  We ended up using a plastic bag that worked great. 

This was the result of dinner.  Alfredo sauce with tuna over spaghetti noodles.  So good.   It is amazing what you can get your kids to eat if they are hungry enough.  They wouldn't have eaten either dinner, that we had, at home.  

Elijah wanted proof of his strength.

This was in the evening when the fog lifted out of the lake area and you could see glimpses of blue sky.  

Josiah and Allie were a great pair to sit and listen.  

Nathan took this lake picture early in the next morning. 

The sun was gladly welcomed in the morning.  They boys are basking in its warmth but didn't take long for the fog to take over.  

Nathan is jealous of my new sleeping bag.  I have needed a good back packing bag for awhile and it is so much more compact than his. I love that sleeping bag.  

We took a stroll up to the saddle to get a different view of the lake.  It was a good climb.  There was a bit of snow up towards the to . It was exciting for the kids to slide down in the snow.  Elijah wanted a sled but decided sliding in the rocks would be just fine.  

We are headed back to the car.  I think we were delirious on the way back cause everything was funny.   Sadie was caught in this dilemma of not being able to fit between these trees.  The trees were thick on this trail.  The trail was 3 miles down to the gravel road then another mile to the car.  

There were some steep areas on this trail.  At one point Nathan had Elijah ditch his pack and let it roll down.  It would have taken Elijah down if not.  We were worried the pack was going to go forever and we would never see it again.  I think you would have had to be with us to think it was funny.  We sent Josiah after it.  Once he retrieved it and headed back to us this is was happened.  See video below.   There are times when it is hard to get out of tough situations.  

We made it to the gravel road on the last stretch of the hike.  This is one hike all of us will remember.